>> schieffer: today on "face the nation," with just 16 days until the election, the seat pelt sign is on because it's looking like a bumpy ride. this week, the campaigns brought out their biggest stars from the music world to rally the base. bruce springsteen wrote a ballad for the democrats. ♪ let's vote for the man who got osama. ♪ forward and away we go >> schieffer: legendary country star lee greenwood entertained republicans. ♪ proud to be an american >> the candidates weren't so sweet. mitt romney said he wants answers now. >> don't you think it's time for him to finally put together a vision of what he would do the next four years if he's elected? i mean, meas he's got to-- he's got to come up with that over the weekend.

>> schieffer: the president said he thinks romney has come downa a mysterious illness. >> if you come down with a case of romnesia, and you can't seem to remember the policies that are still on your web site, or the promises you've made over the six years you've been running for president, here's the good news-- obamacare covers can preexisting conditions. >> schieffer: for the final debate set here tomorrow in boca raton, we'll talk to florida republican marco rubio. and we'll hear from two top campaign strategistes, obama deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter, and romney adviser kevin madden. then we'll get analysis from an all-star panel, including peggy noonan of the "wall street journal." david sanger of the "new york times." joe klein of "time" magazine. and our own john dickerson. it's getting hot and heavy, but

this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs >> and now from lynn university in boca raton, florida, the site of monday's presidential debate, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning, again, and welcome to "face the nation." from boca raton, behind me this morning on the lynn university campus, you see what is known as remembrance plaza. it's a memorial to two professors and four students here who were killed in the haiti earthquake in january of 2011 while on a college service trip. and joining me now the home state senator from florida, senator marco rubio who i heard supports mitt romney. >> now, more than ever. welcome back to florida. >> schieffer: thank you, senator. how high are the stakes for tomorrow's debate? >> i think they're important. all the debates matter. peggy noonan had a great

write-up. perhaps the debates matter more than ever before. i think the president created a false image i of mitt romney in the minds of some voters that was knocked down. and i think what is obvious is the president has no plan for the next four years. he has failed to laid out how he will govern in the next four years. i think tomorrow is the last chance to tell us what he's going to do over the next four years. >> schieffer: it is interesting that tomorrow's debate comes 50 years to the day when john kennedy went on american television and announced that the soviet union had put nuclear-tipped missiles 90 miles from the coast of the florida in cuba. we also know that fidel castro, the dictator of cuba then, still the dictator, i guess in name, but still the dictator, is very near death we are told. i'm wondering, senator, what do

you think will be the course of u.s. relations with cuba if castro does go? >> well, it won't be the direction the president has taken it over the last four years. they have these things called people-to-people trips to cuba which ostensibly is for americans to be able to travel to cuba. they're really tourism trips. people go over there for salsa dancing and cigar rolling lessons and all it is is a source of hard currency for the castro regime. you talk about fidel cast trow beak dead but i'll tell you what's near death in cuba is democracy. the cause of freedom in cuba has been hurt by the additional trips to cube and remittances providing hard currency for that regime. >> schieffer: are there lessons to be learned for today's politicians from what happened during the cuban missile crisis? we did avert, and probably came as close as we'll ever come, or had come to that point, to nuclear war.

are there lessons to be taken away from that? >> you read the accounts after the fact it was even more chilling in terms of some of the advice the president was getting for his military officials at the time. you look back in hindsight and maybe are glad he didn't take that advice in terms of some of the issues. look, i think war and armed conflict is always the last of all the options you have on the table. i think you try to avoid that at all costs. sometimes it's unavoidable. that's the lesson of world war ii. i think the other lesson of the last 50, 60 years, however, the strongest the u.s. military, the stronger our defense capability, the stronger the chance for peace are and that's the lesson of the cold war and thereafter. i think and i believe and mitt romney bees strongly, at that time world is a safer and better place that the united states is the strongest military power on earth. the stronger you are, the less likelihood you will ever have to use it. >> schieffer: most elections are about the economy, but usually, probably within the first year of any president's term, there is some

unanticipated foreign crisis, like the cuban missile crisis. right now we have this-- this awful thing that happened in libya, an american ambassador. you're aaware of the finger pointing bark and forth, it was the work of terrorists, it wasn't the work of terrorists. what have you been able to find out? >> from the early days of that attack it was apparent this was not just a popular uprising. in libya, there was no record of popular uprising against the united states. in fact, the united states is highly regarded in most of libya, and particularly in benghazi, this ambassador was incredibly popular in benghazi. secondly, they were well-armed and well-executed attack. it all the markings of a military-style attack. what's most troubling is one of narratives the obama campaign has laid out is bin laden is dead. they bragged about that forever and al qaeda is in retreat. and you start to wonder, did they basically say do not allow any story to emerge that counters that narrative? is that why for two weeks they

total us the libyan incident in benghazi was a popular uprising and not a terrorist attack teak because it ran counter to their campaign narrative. i hope that's not true. you said early on in any presidency there's a moment truth. this president had one in iran. after the false elections there, the people took to the streets, and the president refused to line up with the green revolution there. he said he wasn't going to get involved in iran sovereignty. the result has been disastrous. there is now no well-organized in iran for the rebellion because of the president's lack of engagement. >> schieffer: in the beginning the administration said it appeared it was the result of a spontaneous demonstration. and the president said no he called it an act of terrorism. there are some newspapers, the it "los angeles times" quoting say it may have been inspired by

a spontaneous demonstration. >> well, that's not the evidence you're seeing. these effects were well armed. it was a well-executed attack. the truth slet's find out the truth. let's put all the facts on the table to see how it developed and we can know. i can tell you the markings of it, the weapons they were carrying and the way it was carried out in multiple stages had all the markings of a terrorist-type attack and for 14 days this administration did everything in its power, including on this show and others that sunday after the attack, to say that it was a popular uprising, that it was a spontaneous uprising linked to a youtube video which we now know not to be the case. even the administration now admits that. >> schieffer: governor romney has made quite a point saying in his first day in office he will declare china to be a currency manipulator. i understand you told some reporters from bloomberg that you don't agree with the president, that you don't think that's a wise thing to do. >> i agree with mitt romney that china is a currency manipulator. the believe a trade war is not

the right way to approach it. i think if you label him a currency manipulator, it would hurt american businesses. but i understand his frustration, and we may have to do what governor romney is saying. we may have to label them a currency manipulator, but the ideal way to deal with it-- we both have a lot to lose here. china has a lot to lose nay trade war. it would be for neither one of our comeps hopefully we can avoid that. it may come to that, but i hope we can avoid that. >> schieffer: let me just ask you this question, what do you think-- what do you want to hear from the candidates as to what they see as america's rol in the world? >> well, i think that's a great question. the answer, i think for governor romney he'd laid that out pretty clearly. he'd used america's role in the world as a catalyst for peace, prosperity and freedom. he understands america can't solve every problem in the world unilaterally. increasingly is takes global coalitions but they have to be put together and led. and only the united states has the capability to do that. the current president, on the

other hand, is a very different vision of the world and part of the failure that this president has had is his failure to outline broad goals, real goals, a real view of what america's role in the world should be. we have never got than from this president, just like for much of this campaign, we haven't gotten from this president his plans for the future. i hope tomorrow night eye don't know who the moderator is-- but i hope that the president will be pressed on what his plans are for the next four years on foreign policy and, if possible, on the economy. i know that's not the topic. but they are related. >> schieffer: well, let's just talk about the economy for a minute. before the year is out, unless the congress does something, and the president would have to sign into law whatever they do, we're facing what people are calling the fiscal crisis because of these automatic tax hikes that go in for everybody, and these draconian cuts in both social and defense programs that will be enacted, again, automatically. do you think congress is going to be able to solve this? what should whoever is elected

president because even if mitt romney is elected and he's not in office yet, won't he have to do something to encourage the congress to solve this? >> let me say on that issue i agree with what barack obama said in december of 2010. and that is in the middle of an economic downturn, in the middle of a bad economy, it's not a good time to raise taxes on anybody. i hope he remembers that and says that again and does that again because without presidential leadership, we're not going to be able to confront this issue. i think the long-term solution to this problem, of is the combination of pro growth strategies on tax reform and regulatory reform and repealing obamacare, combined with fiscal spending discipline so we don't keep digging a hole. i think if we can get growth going in our economy and hold the line on spending, we can recover fairly quickly. i think that's what governor romney is promising. sadly we don't know what president obama's plan is on the fiscal cliff or anything for that matter. glefd just one more foreign policy question. do you take seriously these reports that iran now want wants to make a deal on some kind of nuclear thing?

>> well, the white house has denied that, and so i don't think i need to further comment on that story upon. i do say i think governor romney would agree. force is the last option. it's the least desirable one. it has to be on the table and the candidates agree on that. i am concerned that iran has used negotiations -- quote, unquote-- newscast as a way t to buy time for thur nuclear program. >> schieffer: senator, it's always a pleasure to have you. we'll be back in one minute. because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something.

make it matter. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ >> schieffer: we're back here in boca raton, the site of the final presidential debate tomorrow night. we've got both sides here now. stephanie cutter, the president's deputy campaign manager, kevin madden, who is an adviser to governor mitt romney. i want to talk to both of you about what marco rubio said. first, i'd like to get both of your takes on where pou think the race stands here in florida

because as we all know, it could all be decided on how florida goes. what do you think? >> i think that the race here is very close, but we're increasingly encouraged by the state of our campaign here. i think governor romney focusing on the economy, focusing on what he would do to help get more jobs for the people of florida and people across the country. also, focusing on debt, focusing on deficits, focusing on the gas prices that so many floridians are seeing every single day at the gas pump and how that's affecting their bottom line. i think right now there's a lot of anxiety amongst the american people, particularly people here in florida, about the state of the economy. and as governor romney has focused on that, and he's focused on what he would do better over the next four years, versus the failed policies that we've seen over these past four years from president obama, our campaign has done very well here. and we feel very good about where we're positioned here right now. >> well, i agree with kevin that it is very close. you know, some polls have the

president five up, some have the-- some polls have the governor five up. but we've invested in this state. we have more than 100 campaign offices across this state. we believe in our ground operations. we've closed the gap-- normally republicans have an advantage with absentee ballots. in florida, we've close closed that gap in this election in terms of the academy going forwardof agenda, we have made progress here in florida. the housing industry is on the rebound. we created jobs in florida, we created new energy, the solar and wind energy, because of the investments the president has made. i think people in florida agree with most people across this country, they want to build this economy, rebuild this economy in a way meant to last which means you center to do this from middle out with a strong middle class and that is what mitt romney is not doing. his singular economic spls a tax cut that gives $250,000 tax cut to those at the top forcing the middle class to pay for it. that's not the way to move this

economy forward and i think the people of florida know that. >> schieffer: what mitt romney is telling people is the president is not telling people what he plans to do during his second term. >> mitt romney ought to come on the trail with us and come to some of the rallies and listen to what the president is the saying. i think millions of americans heard it on convention night. he wants to build-- continue rebuilding this economy as i said in a way that's meant to last, build on the progress we've made. invest in manufacturing and small businesses by closing those loopholes that send jobs overseas and bring jobs back home, invest in education so we have a skilled workforce. there are job all over this country that can't be filled because we don't have enough high-skilled workers. new math and science teachers, investing in community colleges to train new workers, cut our dependence on foreign oil in half and we're wol our way to do that. cut our deficits. there's a detailed deficit reduction plan on the table that the president put forth.

and finally, end the war in afghanistan and use those savings to rebuild america back after a decade of war it's time to rebuild here at home and the president has a plan to do that. >> schieffer: let me just ask kevin what about the charge the president-- he has diagnosed governor romney as having rom nearbyia, he can't remember the positions he's taken, that he's changed. >> look, the very fact that the president of the united stateses had to utter a term like that is a glaring example of how small the campaign has been. this has not been a campaign it's obama campaign has not been one about the future. it hasn't been talking about what they would do the next four years to rebuild the economy. instead they've reduced themselveses to very small attacks. you say romnesia, which is silly for want president of the united states, the leader of the free world to gip uttering. talk about binders, talk about big bird. all of that is indicative of a candidate that doesn't have a vision for the future. governor romney on the other

hand-- >> schieffer: it's governor romney who brought up binders and big bird. >> they're trying to make that the central argument in the last 16 days is really very small for their campaign and they've conducted themselves like this over the last six months. i think a lot of people right now, we have 23 million people struggling to find work. we have a national debt that's over $16 trillion. $4 trillion-- this president has added trillion-dollar deficits every year for the last four years, and this is the president's closing argument. i think one of the condition tafts that has emerged in these deterioration one that has worked to governor romney's favor is governor romney has plans for the future on everything from bringing down energy lies lowering health care costs, rejuvenating the economy, putting people back to work. and that contrast has worked in our favor because governor romney has a plan for the future. whereas over the next four years, we don't know what president obama would do. and the american people right now i think are judging the president very harshly because they know we simply cannot

afford another four years like the last four years. >> schieffer: too much, big bird? >> you're right, bob. we are not the one who brought up big bird. big bird is important because that's the only thing mitt romney could point to as to how he would reduce the deficit. they're a big another in this campaign, i think you can agree-- that's not true, kevin. the governor's running mate voted for two wars, two tax cuts that created these deficits, that turned a record surplus into deficits. the president has a veto plan on the table to reduce those deficits. mitt romney could only point to binders for an accomplishment toward women. he had a binder full of women. that's important because it's really symbolic of the governor's policies. he wouldn't say whether or not he believes in equal pay for women. he wasn't honest about contraception. he supportels the rubio bill which puts bosses in charge of whether women have access to contraception on their employer plan. he wants to repeal the affordable care act, which means insurance companies can go back to the days of charging women

more than men just for health care. now, that is not a women security, security, or health security agenda and the winier is demstrative of that. i want to bring up romnesia. it's a playful term to describe what mitt romney is doing. he has run as a severely conservative candidate the last six years and in the last two weeks of this campaign he's suddenly moving to the middle? what about all those policies he declared? he's going to repeal roe v wade, the tax cut for those at the top that he's now pretending doesn't exist that will increase our deficit or increase taxes on the middle class. endless war in afghanistan. these are policies, positions that he's taken over the last six years of running for president and they don't simply disappear. >> we have very, investigator big challenge challenges in this country. >> absolutely, and we have to be honest about that. >> i don't think the message to opponents ought to be playing scrabble with your opponents name when we have 23 million struggling to find work. the president started out with a

$12 million federal debt-- >> 12 million? >> i'm sorry, 12 billon-- 12 twillion. now we have 16 trilog trillion. i think people find it troubling the president doesn't have a plan and if we reelect president obama we are going to be at 20 trillion. >> what exactly is governor romney's plans to reduce the deficit. what are the details? >> the way you look at the federal deficit you can grow your way out of it, tax your way out of it uor cut your way out of it. what's happening right now is first of all,-- >> no i asked you about governor romney's plan. >> the only way president obama-- and i'll get to that. president obama has only said he he wants to the taxes-- >> that's not true. >> governor romney said we take care of the growth side, lower tax side and winnow away the inefficiencies, find the inefficiencies in the federal government, the federal budget, that's how we bring down the deficit and get the economy going. >> that sounds incredibly

detailed. and that's problem, the governor is traveling around this country either being dishonest about his policy or not giving details, promising to take it past the election. that's not an honest way for the american people to give the american people what your agenda is for the next four years. >> schieffer: i've got to stop. back with some personal thoughts in a second.

>> schieffer: for the past month, i've been preparing to moderate monday night's debate by studying up on foreign policy. it is just reminded me how dangerous the world is in which we live. in the midst of all that, i ran across a front-page story in the "new york times" about the shame

a los angeles woman is feeling because she has a blackberry phone and all her friends have iphones. she is so ashamed, she told the "times" she no longer takes her blackberry out at cocktail partys. personally, i think that's a good thing. she said she hides her blackberry behind her ipad at business conferences for fear her clients will see her and judge her. other blackberry owners said they, too, suffer shame and humiliation as they watch their friends on social networks unavailable to them. this is not a commercial for any phone-- for the record, i have a blackberry so i still read paper newspapers but of so maybe i don't count. here's what i wonder about-- if the americans who headed west in covered wagon had cell phones do you think they were embarrassed about brand they owned? they had to find something to eat before dark and indians hiding close by.

more i thought about that, the more i realized i really had no word words to comfort those who feel world is closing in on them because they have the wrong phone. maybe they could just take deep breaths or something. back in a minute upon all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro.

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